The Case

The X series may not be as well-known as the massive engine that is EVE Online or science fiction epics like Mass Effect, but it certainly does hold its own. Commonly described as a single-player EVE Online mixed with Freelancer it allows for a combination of the frantic dog-fighting found in Freelancer; the vast universe in EVE Online and the wonderful RPG elements that come from taking contracts, building your ships and traversing about the galaxy. X Rebirth was received with much anticipation. This soon turned into stomach-churning disappointment as Egosoft realised they had released a buggy, futile mess. Still, taking into account the pedigree of the game, we decided to give it one more chance after few months of patching before we delivered our verdict. In a clichéd movie this would be where a turnaround occurs and a month of frantic work is enough to turn the whole thing into a gloriously good game. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way.

The Trial

The graphics and visuals do hint at the possibility of it having been a genuinely amazing game. With absolutely startling visuals and myriad vistas bursting with colors, all pouring into the painstakingly crafted UI view screen that is designed to make players feel like they are sitting inside their ship's cockpit. The ambitions of the game are put right out there for all to see, and it incites a hope that, unfortunately, is almost immediately dashed the moment you open any in-game menu.

The gameplay then marks the greatest failing of X Rebirth, starting with the most heinous culprit, the UI. While it’s understandable that the designers may have been trying to fully immerse the players within the game, this is where it gets ridiculous: at least six keystrokes are required to reach the map, with lag between each screen occurring as the badly-optimized game engine attempts to pull up another piece of useless information. Inside that useless information hidden between countless sub-headings, lies your mission objective, coordinates and other useful information. Furthermore, the decision to place the entire menu UI as an in-game holographic display, while interesting in theory, falls short of what is convenient or even tolerable. Even after patching, only minor speed-up was enacted, leaving the rest of the UI as cumbersome and annoying as always.

Not that improved UI would have helped much, considering the jaw-droppingly asinine levels of micromanagement that is required to even play the basic economic game: waiting for hours on end as your trade ship slowly tags along behind you, trading at a snail's pace while you are given arbitrary missions to do. Friendly ships that you can add to your fleet are interesting to bring along for the ride, were their AI's scripted to showcase any intelligence whatsoever. As it is, they were more hindrance than help, getting in front of my lasers and then subsequently getting themselves killed.

What's worse, one of the greatest aspects of the X series, its customization, has been horribly streamlined and stripped away. Your original ship, the Albion Skunk, is the only ship you own and are allowed to upgrade. Even cosmetic changes are non-existent, instead resulting only in upgraded weaponry, shields and engines. While the ships themselves are visually appealing, the fact that you may never pilot more than the one you already have fills me with rage and disappointment.

The quest-line is utterly confusing. Badly explained events, missing any serious exposition, are jumbled in with a clichéd plot about evil corporations and rebels. These are mixed in with absolutely terrible voice acting to introduce a horrible package that they have labeled as their plot. At the start of the game, you are barely given any explanation or background as to your character, before you are thrown into a similarly badly explained setting, with absolutely absurd motivations - at no point am I given a reason not to simply jettison my rescued passenger and go about exploring the universe.

Other NPCs wander about aimlessly or stand still within sparse space stations that give the promise of a wandering RPG element but only deliver stock boring lines and visually unattractive looks. They aren't even unique, utilizing a dozen or so stock models for the entire galaxy. Even the NPC that tags along with the main quest is annoying and badly voice acted. I soon found myself muting the game just so I didn't have to listen to any of the terrible lines.

The game also suffers from lackluster pacing. Frantic bouts of confusing action are interspersed with long, boring periods of inactivity. With no fast forward button and a moronic limit on the spaceship's throttle, players are relegated to staring at the screen for minutes on end, watching the stars crawl by at a mind-numbing pace as they attempt to get from one location to another.

Attempts to deepen the shallow nature of the game fall flat. An arcane global economy clearly doesn't work at all, while treasure hunting is a frustrating and ultimately unrewarding chore that is best avoided entirely. Navigating around starbases quickly becomes routine. Attempting to accept side quests without smashing your ship into the station, all the while juggling the horrid UI used to interact with anything within the world is a challenge in patience. Crashes are constant, unresponsive characters litter the world and nothing does what it's supposed to do, especially the goddamned trading ships.

The Verdict

Ultimately then, I would like to say that X Rebirth tried to be ambitious, but failed miserably. Unfortunately, it doesn't even deserve that little inkling of credit. It suffers from a plethora of badly-designed ideas, and was released way before it was ready with what seems to be minimal testing. Egosoft clearly skimped on the English voice-acting, whilst utterly betraying what made the X series great. Give this one a pass, unless you want your love for space-based games to be forever tainted.

Case Review